Arabic: أحمد حسن زويل Born: February 26, 1946 Ahmed Hassan Zewail is an Egyptian scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1999. Zewail was born on February 26, 1946 in Disuq in Damanhur in the Nile Delta. Zewail received a BS in 1967 and an MS in 1969 from Alexandria University, later earning a doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania in 1974. Zewail joined the faculty at the California Institute of Technology in 1990 and subsequently served as a visiting professor at various other universities, including the American University in Cairo. In addition to the Nobel Prize, which Zewail received for developing a new rapid laser technique that allowed a new field known as femtochemistry, Zewail received many other honors. Among them, the Grand Collar of the Nile (Egypt's highest civilian recognition), th eRobert A. Welch Prize, Wolf Prize, King Faisal Prize, Benjamin Franklin Medal, Peter Debye Award, and E.O. Lawrence Award. When asked about rumors that he might contest the 2011/2012 Egyptian Presidential election, Zewail said, "I am a frank man... I have no political ambition, as I have stressed repeatedly that I only want to serve Egypt in the field of science and die as a scientist.” Ahmed Zewail serves on President Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and is the U.S. Science Envoy to the Middle East.
